Key West Waterfront Makes a Comeback

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Key West, FL -
The waterfront, where the Conch Republic Seafood Company is now located, has a fascinating history. In the 1890's, Key West was considered the Sponge Capital of the Country, and these docks served as a sponge market where large "mother ships" unloaded their cargo. Thousands of sponges, bought, sold & traded here, were shipped all over the world.

In the 1990's, Dean Rollings, president of the Florida Straits Conch Company, created a plan to preserve the historic waterfront

In 1949, almost by accident, vast beds of succulent pink shrimp were discovered just offshore near the Dry Tortugas. The Singleton family built a huge Fish House and Ice Plant here to process the shrimp... for the next few decades, it was boasted as the largest ice plant in the world; hundreds of workers cleaned and packed shrimp at long tables in what now serves as the Main Dining Room of the restaurant. At one time, there were so many shrimp trawlers at the docks, you could walk the length of the seawall from one boat to another without touching the water!

The shrimp industry remained a lucrative business in the Key West Bight into the 1980's. In the 1990's, Dean Rollings, president of the Florida Straits Conch Company, created a plan to preserve the historic waterfront.

The large warehouse once known as "Fish House No. 4" has been transformed into the present day Conch Republic Seafood Company. Part of the building that housed the ice plant itself is now the Conch Farm Research and Educational Foundation, Inc., a working laboratory and museum, and the other part is the Conch Republic Seafood Company Fish Market.

The buildings are fascinating, making the most of the old Ice Plant and docks… materials salvaged from the plant, processing plant and original docks are integrated throughout the restaurant, bar and education center.

The waterfront… another fascinating bit of Key West history that the locals have preserved through an imaginative blend of commerce and culture!